“Cereal commercials, nutritionists and your mother all agree—breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That’s why Congress has declared September to be “All American Breakfast Month!”

Dinosaur Dan’s Breakfast

Breakfast over the past few hundred years has changed drastically. The pilgrims used to break the fasting from dinner and sleeping all night by eating cornmeal mush and apple cider in the mornings. It wasn’t until 1906 when the concept of breakfast changed forever. That year was the defining moment for John Harvey and Will Keith Kellogg with their discovery of how to make the first Toasted Corn Flake cereal. With the invention of cereal, breakfast time turned into a matter of convenience. It was all about how to eat breakfast quicker. The first packaged hot cereal debuted in 1919 followed by packaged biscuit mixes by the 1930’s. It wasn’t until 1964 however, until the ultimate convenient breakfast food made its first introduction, the Pop-Tart.

Restaurants like Waffle House and Ihop, started to pick up on this quick breakfast trend and began offering breakfast any time of day; however, for most American’s that wasn’t a quick enough option before heading off to work for the day. Then, along came McDonald’s, who premiered their Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich in 1972 with astonishing success. The average annual breakfast sales at that time were approximately $400,000 per store!

As time grew on, the nutritious content of American’s breakfast choices declined. The plain Toasted Corn Flake cereal was sweetened and eventually called Frosted Flakes. By the time Oreo O’s cereal first appeared in 1998, it seemed as if cereals were just simple sugary snacks for children.

“The American breakfast table has indeed changed in the nearly four hundred years since the Pilgrims landed. Many Americans eat no breakfast at all, while others have a quick breakfast cereal, coffee and perhaps fruit.” -OxfordUniversityPress

September is All-American Breakfast Month. This month-long event encourages individuals, especially school aged children, to avoid skipping this crucial meal and enjoy a healthy breakfast. There have been recent studies done that show the correlation between students eating a healthy breakfast and their performance in school. Check out this video for more information on these recent studies: http://childobesity180.org/breakfast-and-achievement. It is said that eating a healthy breakfast has been linked to better test scores, higher grades and even better classroom behavior. Eating something healthy for breakfast also helps improve your concentration, memory and a student’s willingness to learn. Eating just anything in the morning is not enough, a quick sugary bowl of cereal will not help a student’s performance in school; however, a breakfast high in proteins and complex carbohydrates is more suitable choice. Are you a school administrator, teacher, or parent looking to implement a breakfast program into your school? Follow this link to learn how: http://www.childobesity180.org/breakfast-resources.

Let’s celebrate All-American Breakfast Month by teaching our families the importance of eating a healthy breakfast! Let’s try to be proactive in our schools and give students the option to have a free, healthy breakfast each day!

At High Touch High Tech of Western North Carolina our employees share with you what healthy breakfast options they have daily!

Dinosaur Dan: I am all about a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, fruit, nuts, and maple syrup